Broken Wings
N.W. 21
A Moment of Solace

Lloyd smiled as he watched Paul and Elise share their first dance as a married couple. The rings he'd so painstakingly crafted for them glinted from their hands, and Paul hadn't stopped grinning since Elise had said 'I do.'

Red-brown eyes shifted over to the woman standing at his left, and Lloyd rubbed a circle on the back of Lilia's hand with his thumb. "You sure we shouldn't have done this, too?" he asked softly as the song came to a close.

Blue-gray eyes rose to meet his gaze, amusement pulling her lips into a smile. "I don't think we need the whole pomp and ceremony. We've kept to our vows, privately as they may have been given."

Lloyd shifted enough to kiss her, knowing full well that there was an audience.

Not that anyone from Iselia cared. Lloyd and Lilia had been a confirmed couple for over a decade now. No, they weren't married, and never would be, but Lloyd wasn't going anywhere.

Not until Lilia was dead and gone. Paul as well, most likely.

Even now, when Paul now looked older than he did, Lloyd gladly embraced his adoptive son. "You're not planning on running off on us, are you?" Paul asked as he pulled away. Lloyd gave him a wry smirk.

"Today? Not a chance." Odd, why would he...

"Five o'clock," Paul murmured, nodding behind him.

Lloyd shifted, looking over his shoulder but knowing full well who had shown up after all.

Colette had cut her hair. That was the first thing he realized. The second was that she was no longer wearing the robes of the Chosen of Regeneration.

Her work with the Church had either gone very well, or rather horribly.

He sighed, and turned back to Paul and nodded. "She won't be a problem." Hadn't been since Presea's death four years previously. Seemed the death of one of their companions had finally brought Colette back down to earth.

Lilia held onto his arm like one of the delicate maidens he knew she most certainly wasn't. "I don't suppose I could talk you into a dance?"

Lloyd chuckled and shifted, holding out a hand for her to take, even as Paul grinned and rejoined his new bride. Dancing wasn't something he'd been all that good at when he'd actually been the age he appeared now. Too many years of Zelos dragging him to parties had fixed that problem, however, and he had no trouble whatsoever leading Lilia around in one of the simpler dances.

They'd only gotten the one when Colette managed to catch up to them, her suddenly bobbed blonde hair refusing to stay behind her ear after she pushed it back.

"Um... Could I...?"

All it took was a glance, so attuned to each other he and Lilia had become. She was stepping away as the next song started, and Lloyd held out a hand for Colette.

The first minute of the dance was spent in silence, Colette not quite looking at her feet, but not looking at him, either.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted, just as Lloyd was beginning to think she wasn't going to speak up. "I... I never should have left. I've just been throwing myself into my work with the Church, and I didn't even realize how much time had passed, and Presea..."

She stopped here, tears cascading down her cheeks, and Lloyd sighed, gently pulling her away from the makeshift dance floor. Lilia was talking to Paul and Elise, and though she glanced over at one point, she seemed to see that Colette needed support from somewhere.

Lloyd... would have to be that support. Because no one else was here. Genis and Raine hadn't shown up, Zelos, Sheena, and Regal hadn't been invited...

Well.

Neither had she, really. But this was Iselia, and in a tiny town like this, no one was really going to call her out for gate-crashing.

"I'm sorry... I... I didn't mean to hurt you."

Lloyd crossed his arms. "You told me once, that my strength came from a big ball of kindness."

"And kind people get hurt very easily. I remember... And that's why... I wanted you to be able to live out your life." Colette looked up from the ground, brushing her hair behind her ear again. "My body's frozen. I... I'll never be able to carry children, and... You know how people get when they see an older guy with a young girl. Even if I'm just a year younger than you, mentally..."

"Everyone in Iselia would have known, Colette. No one would have cared," Lloyd pointed out. "I've never gotten any flak off the villagers for living with Lilia, even after the physical ten-year age gap started expanding. Sure, the occasional traveler wonders why the hell the man on her arm appears the same age as her son, but the villagers tell them to mind their own business. I doubt things would have been much different if you'd stayed."

She was silent for a while, wringing her hands. "What... what about when Lilia...?"

Lloyd closed his eyes. "She's strong. She won't be passing for another few decades yet. And even when she does... I've got all the time between now and then to make memories... And those memories will last for centuries. That's all I can ask for."

Blue once again rose to his face, though the tears had stopped falling. Colette sniffed a couple times, wiped her eyes, and then... smiled.

"...Thank you, Lloyd."

"I'm not interrupting, am I?"

Colette looked past Lloyd as he turned, both of them smiling at Lilia.

"Not at all. I... I was just about to leave, really. Though..." Colette stopped, glanced at Lloyd, giggled, and let her smile become a full grin. "I should go congratulate your son, first."

Lilia was smiling as Lloyd put an arm around her, Paul's mother leaning into his side with a familiar ease. "Thank you, Colette."

Colette nodded and wandered off, clearly making an effort to catch up to Paul and Elise, and Lloyd slipped his hand into his pocket. Now was as good a time as any, and really...

"Lilia?"

"Yes, Lloyd?"

"I made something for you."

The look of wonder on Lilia's face, and the understanding smile on Colette's, made the necklace worth every minute it had taken to design and create.